Computer Security

Why Norton, McAfee & TrendMicro Arn't What You Want

2011-10-24T07:04:00.000-07:00

Ninety percent of new computers come out of the box with one of these three anti-viruses on them.
That means that 99% of the virus writers out there are going to include chunks of code and scripts to deal with these common anti-viruses tools. The virus code essentially says "If Norton than do this, If McAfee than do that..." What this boils down to is that Norton, McAffee & TrendMicro all have huge targets hanging on them. Every day these big common anti-virus vendors have to make patches to repair the holes in their armor. That means every day your computer has to download not only the daily definitions but a whole slew of patches that fix the holes new viruses exploit. This means loss of time and productivity as the massive, patchy anti-viruses quickly become system resource hogs.

You must learn to think like the virus writers - they are shooting at the most massive collection of sitting ducks. Don't use an anti-virus that they are commonly having to face and don't use a browser that they are targeting ie IE.

You'll do fine with a nice, fast and effective anti-virus like Avast. Plus its free for personal use.
Since its free, its used by millions of people so there is a much larger definitions database that your getting.

Blue Screen of Death

2011-10-24T06:51:00.000-07:00

There are several reasons why PCs get the Blue Screen of Death.

Bad Ram:
One of the most common is failed memory. Commonly this Blue Screen has a key giveaway phrase that reads

"IRQ not LESS OR EQUAL" Only it uses the not less or equal sign. If you get this error power the system off and take out its Memory sticks. Dust can cause a short like this so wipe off the sticks and blow the dust out of the memory slots. If you still get the IRQ error it is likely that one of your sticks of ram or even a memory slot may have gone bad. Try running it with just one stick and see if you get the error still.

Corrupt Operating System File:
A blue screen on boot is commonly a corrupted operating system file. The Windows OS works not unlike the alphabet. First A passes the torch to B then C then D on up to desktop. But if one of the files is corrupt its like removing a domino - the chain of events breaks and the Blue Screen of Death (BSoD) appears. To fix this you'll need a windows XP, Vista or Seven disk- as appropriate for your OS. Boot from the disk and go into a command prompt. Here you'll type: "CHKDSK /R" Which is short for check disk minus "r". The "r" is for repair. It will take a bit of time but that should fix the corrupted file. I also recommend typing FIXBOOT for the XP systems as this makes sure your boot sector is health.

Bad Hard Drive:
Another common BSoD is caused by bad sectors on a hard drive. These are essentially like pot holes on a freeway. If you have enough "pot holes" or an especially bad pot hole - your application or operating system will crash. A great tool for fixing bad sectors is called SpinRite.

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These are the three primary causes of the Blue Screen of Death.
Sure its also true that a virus can cause either operating system file corruption
or by writing zeros and ones to a drive can cause bad or unreadable sectors on a hard drive.

Think, Point Click Viruses

2011-10-24T06:31:00.000-07:00

The most common viruses out right now are dubbed: "Think, Point Click" viruses. You'll be minding your own business and suddenly a Java based virus will pop up and scare you by saying you have "21 infections." Next while your still processing this, a small window pops up and says "click Yes to remove them." Millions of folks click that Yes button and in doing so install the very virus they are hoping will go away.

The proper thing to do is close out of your browser by hitting the red X in the top right corner.
That will make the Virus - which depends on the Java running in your browser - go away.

Now just start your browser over and stay clear of that web page - its been poisoned by a hacker!

If you do click Yes and you have the virus then reboot into Safe Mode (press f8 at startup) and do a System Restore to a date before you got the virus.

Java Viruses

2011-10-24T06:20:00.000-07:00

Java – The Weak Link In Browser Security

I am seeing a clear link between the "Extortion Ware" fake anti-virus plague and outdated versions of Java software. Java (Sun/Oracle) is either complicit or unwilling to release a version of Java that removes the old versions when it installs the latest most secure version.

The only reason these viruses can pop up and scare users into clicking "Yes" is because of weakness being exploited in old Java versions on client side systems.

Java freely admits that there is a need to remove the old versions on their web site, but if they really were invested they would have their updates remove the old software when the new update arrives. I know you are thinking, well its free man so why should they do this? But by that logic they shouldn't update at all... I am skeptical that complicity isn't at the bottom of some upper level hand shakes. The short 2 minute video below advises users to manually uninstall old Java versions and download the latest version.